Number of Virginia’s Uninsured Increases Since 1996; Working Uninsured Also Increase, Report Says

The number of uninsured Virginians has increased from 13% in 1996 to 14.9% this year, meaning that more than one million residents lack insurance, compared with 850,000 in 1996, according to a report commissioned by the Virginia Health Care Foundation. Southwest Virginia has the highest rate of the uninsured at 20.4%, while 17.2% of central Virginia's population and 11% of Northern Virginia residents lacks health coverage. The report, based on a survey of more than 1,000 households, also found that the number of working adults without health insurance also has increased. In 1996, 57% of the state's uninsured worked full time, compared with 67% this year. In a presentation before the state Legislature's Joint Commission on Health Care, Deborah Oswalt, the foundation's executive director, said, "Seventy percent [of Virginia's uninsured] said they were not offered insurance at work. The other 30% said it was offered, but they couldn't afford it." She added that the increase in the number of working uninsured demonstrates a "need to consider more than just very poor and low-income people when developing policy to expand access to health insurance," the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. Oswalt said the "growing problem" of the working uninsured is "creeping into higher income brackets," which is "especially noteworthy considering the economic boom we have come out of." State Sen. Stephen Martin (R) suggested that "mandated benefits" have "driven up rates of uninsured" people because they "force employers to drop" coverage. But Oswalt said the "problem is more complex, with no single cause or solution" (Smith, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 6/28).